Museum in the Schools
Museum in the Schools was created in 1997 and remains the fundamental component of the Columbia River Maritime Museum’s educational outreach programming. MITS was created to make museum education more accessible to individual classrooms without the cost of travel or curriculum interruption for on-site programming at the museum. Our field educator travels to schools across nine counties in Oregon and Washington to provide students with engaging, maritime-themed STEAM learning opportunities. Since its founding, MITS has presented engaging programming to more than 150,000 students.
The Columbia River Maritime Museum is now offering virtual Museum in the Schools presentations via Zoom and Google Meet. All programs support Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards and are FREE to elementary schools across Oregon and Washington. Each participating student will receive an education kit (delivered to schools for distribution to students) for a hands-on STEAM activity.
Virtual MITS classes are fully booked through January 2021. Check back for details to register for Spring 2021 MITS classes.
Albatross: Cruisers of the Sea (Grades K-5)
Albatross are one of the most magnificent seabird travelers on Earth. They journey up to 15,000 miles in a single voyage and can circumnavigate the globe in 46 days. Albatross parents scavenge the surface of the ocean for food to bring back to their chicks. Before the chicks fledge, they regurgitate a mass of undigested material from their stomach known as a bolus. Boluses contain natural material, such as squid beaks, and unnatural material, such as marine debris. In this program, students will learn how marine debris affects albatross and will culminate with the dissection of a faux-albatross bolus.
Build-a-Boat (Grades K-1)
For thousands of years, people have built boats to transport goods and people across rivers and seas. To do so requires an understanding of materials that sink and float. This program is specially designed for early elementary students studying buoyancy. Our Build-a-Boat program includes water experiments that will conclude with students designing and building their very own boat.
Chinook Engineering (Grades 4-5)
Chinook Engineering will focus on the Chinook Indian Tribe and the items they crafted prior to European contact. Students will come away from this program understanding the importance of natural resources and how the Lower Chinookan Peoples utilized them to engineer everyday items. This program will conclude with students weaving their own baskets using presoaked reeds to get a better understanding of the talent and patience needed to engineer with organic materials.
What’s in that Ship? (Grades 3-5)
What kind of ship is that? What’s that ship being used for? These are questions we have all asked when seeing these ocean giants passing along the Columbia River. This program will focus on the five most common type of vessels spotted along the Columbia River and the cargo they transport. Students will learn how the Columbia River connects not only the Pacific Northwest, but the entire country to the rest of the world. This program will conclude with an interactive game of Ship Bingo.
Wind Energy (Grades 4-5)
Humans have been harvesting the energy of the wind for centuries. Windmills were traditionally used to grind grain and pump water. With the evolution of modern technology, wind turbines have evolved to generate electricity. This program will focus on renewable wind energy and will culminate with students engineering a functional model wind turbine.
Museum in the Schools was created in 1997 and remains the fundamental component of the Columbia River Maritime Museum’s educational outreach programming. MITS was created to make museum education more accessible to individual classrooms without the cost of travel or curriculum interruption for on-site programming at the museum. Our field educator travels to schools across nine counties in Oregon and Washington to provide students with engaging, maritime-themed STEAM learning opportunities. Since its founding, MITS has presented engaging programming to more than 150,000 students.
The Columbia River Maritime Museum is now offering virtual Museum in the Schools presentations via Zoom and Google Meet. All programs support Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards and are FREE to elementary schools across Oregon and Washington. Each participating student will receive an education kit (delivered to schools for distribution to students) for a hands-on STEAM activity.
Virtual MITS classes are fully booked through January 2021. Check back for details to register for Spring 2021 MITS classes.
Albatross: Cruisers of the Sea (Grades K-5)
Albatross are one of the most magnificent seabird travelers on Earth. They journey up to 15,000 miles in a single voyage and can circumnavigate the globe in 46 days. Albatross parents scavenge the surface of the ocean for food to bring back to their chicks. Before the chicks fledge, they regurgitate a mass of undigested material from their stomach known as a bolus. Boluses contain natural material, such as squid beaks, and unnatural material, such as marine debris. In this program, students will learn how marine debris affects albatross and will culminate with the dissection of a faux-albatross bolus.
Build-a-Boat (Grades K-1)
For thousands of years, people have built boats to transport goods and people across rivers and seas. To do so requires an understanding of materials that sink and float. This program is specially designed for early elementary students studying buoyancy. Our Build-a-Boat program includes water experiments that will conclude with students designing and building their very own boat.
Chinook Engineering (Grades 4-5)
Chinook Engineering will focus on the Chinook Indian Tribe and the items they crafted prior to European contact. Students will come away from this program understanding the importance of natural resources and how the Lower Chinookan Peoples utilized them to engineer everyday items. This program will conclude with students weaving their own baskets using presoaked reeds to get a better understanding of the talent and patience needed to engineer with organic materials.
What’s in that Ship? (Grades 3-5)
What kind of ship is that? What’s that ship being used for? These are questions we have all asked when seeing these ocean giants passing along the Columbia River. This program will focus on the five most common type of vessels spotted along the Columbia River and the cargo they transport. Students will learn how the Columbia River connects not only the Pacific Northwest, but the entire country to the rest of the world. This program will conclude with an interactive game of Ship Bingo.
Wind Energy (Grades 4-5)
Humans have been harvesting the energy of the wind for centuries. Windmills were traditionally used to grind grain and pump water. With the evolution of modern technology, wind turbines have evolved to generate electricity. This program will focus on renewable wind energy and will culminate with students engineering a functional model wind turbine.